Sunday, October 8, 2000

It's my official grand opening -- or reopening.

Excuse the mess and the lack of furniture. Moving to a new place is always a hassle. My landlords have been great through all the hustle and bustle, but I'll be glad when I'm fully settled. I have wings and rooms yet to add.

I'm new to domain names and web host servers -- but what a thrill! I've so much to share and so much to learn. The web is so vast that I could easily get lost among the ocean of voices. I wonder if there's a point to it all.

What is there to say that hasn't already been said?

I wish I knew.

Sunday, October 15, 2000

While there doesn't seem to be a whole lot set up yet, there are the archives.

Monday, October 16, 2000 at 9:34 AM

Another work day -- and I should be working.

I've got quite a few print projects to finish up before everyone takes off for the convention two weeks from now: agendas, menus, punch cards. (Thank god I finished the newsletters, or I'd be here all day.)

But I just wanted to put a little something on this page so it wouldn't seem so stale. Last night I even set up a little script so I could update this page without having to resort to good ol' FTP. Let's just call it my faux-blogger. Sure.

I probably would have set up more over the weekend (I have a couple of movie reviews to put up and a journal script to try out), but outside of DNS issues, I also had my Real Life to occupy me.

Real Life? Yeah, yesterday my boyfriend and I had lunch at Onami before heading out to watch the air show. Friday and Saturday, it was some other buffet restaurant and the movies (and cleaning for me!). Not terribly exciting, but time-consuming all the same. I'm also trying out a demo of ZBrush (which is truly anything but "intuitive").

No permalinks here, but as I basically have no audience, it really doesn't matter.

Tuesday, October 17, 2000 at 4:28 PM

I'd credit the author of the following e-mail forward if I knew who it was -- but I don't.

To prepare yourself for the final presidential debate, you might want to look over this Official Transcript of the Second Presidential Debate:

Jim Lehrer: Welcome to the second presidential debate between Vice President Al Gore and Gov. George W. Bush. The candidates have agreed on these rules: I will ask a question. The candidate will ignore the question and deliver rehearsed remarks designed to appeal to undecided women voters. The opponent will then have one minute to respond by trying to frighten senior citizens into voting for him. When a speaker's time has expired, I will whimper softly while he continues to spew incomprehensible statistics for three more minutes. Let's start with the vice president. Mr. Gore, can you give us the name of a downtrodden citizen and then tell us his or her story in a way that strains the bounds of common sense?

Gore: As I was saying to Tipper last night after we tenderly made love the way we have so often during the 30 years of our rock-solid marriage, the downtrodden have a clear choice in this election. My opponent wants to cut taxes for the richest 1% of Americans. I, on the other hand, want to put the richest 1% in an iron clad lock box so they can't hurt old people like Roberta Frampinhamper, who is here tonight. Mrs. Frampinhamper has been selling her internal organs, one by one, to pay for gas so that she can travel to these debates and personify problems for me. Also, her poodle has arthritis.

Jim Lehrer: Gov. Bush, your rebuttal.

Bush: Governors are on the front lines every day, hugging people, crying with them, relieving suffering anywhere a photo opportunity exists. I want to empower those crying people to make their own decisions, unlike my opponent, whose mother is not Barbara Bush.

Jim Lehrer: Let's turn to foreign affairs. Gov. Bush, if Slobodan Milosevic were to launch a bid to return to power in Yugoslavia, would you be able to pronounce his name?

Bush: The current administration had eight years to deal with that guy and didn't get it done. If I'm elected, the first thing I would do about that guy is have Dick Cheney confer with our allies. And then Dick would present me several options for dealing with that guy. And then Dick would tell me which one to choose. You know, as governor of Texas, I have to make tough foreign policy decisions every day about how we're going to deal with New Mexico.

Jim Lehrer: Mr. Gore, your rebuttal.

Gore: Foreign policy is something I've always been keenly interested in. I served my country in Vietnam. I had an uncle who was a victim of poison gas in World War I. I myself lost a leg in the Franco-Prussian War. And when that war was over, I came home and tenderly made love to Tipper in a way that any undecided woman voter would find romantic. If I'm entrusted with the office of president, I pledge to deal knowledgeably with any threat, foreign or domestic, by putting it in an iron clad lock box. Because the American people deserve a president who can comfort them with simple metaphors.

Jim Lehrer: Vice President Gore, how would you reform the Social Security system?

Gore: It's a vital issue, Jim. That's why Joe Lieberman and I have proposed changing the laws of mathematics to allow us to give $50,000 to every senior citizen without having it cost the federal treasury a single penny until the year 2250. In addition, my budget commits $60 trillion over the next 10 years to guarantee that all senior citizens can have drugs delivered free to their homes every Monday by a federal employee who will also help them with the child-proof cap.

Jim Lehrer: Gov. Bush?

Bush: That's fuzzy math. I know, because as governor of Texas, I have to do math every day. I have to add up the numbers and decide whether I'm going to fill potholes out on Rt. 36 east of Abilene or commit funds to reroof the sheep barn at the Texas state fairgrounds.

Jim Lehrer: It's time for closing statements.

Gore: I'm my own man. I may not be the most exciting politician, but I will fight for the working families of America, in addition to turning the White House into a lusty pit of marital love for Tipper and me.

Bush: It's time to put aside the partisanship of the past by electing no one but Republicans.

Jim Lehrer: Good night.

Monday, October 23, 2000 at 8:36 AM

Holy bat droppings.

I was searching for "aprilgem" on Metacrawler to see if my new listing has kicked in yet, when lo and behold I spy a link to "The Free Place To Be dot Com" comments page (which will get no linking from me, thank you!). At the top of the page is some freaky testimonial from an "Aprilgem" about some home business product, and all I can say is that I'm stunned -- absolutely stunned.

Two things hit me:

One, I do not want my name on that thing. I never bought anything from them, and I don't even know what they sell.

Two, there's another "aprilgem" out there, which really depresses me. It's bad enough that there are practically a million instances of the word "April" coming up on search engines, and coupled with the word "Martinez" the name brings up quite a few baseball articles (of all things!). Even in quotes, "April Martinez" yields name twins in Texas and Northern California -- psych doctors, graduates of high schools or colleges I never went to, girls recently chosen for cheersquads I never cheered in. So I trash "Martinez" in favor of "GEM" (which happen to be my last three initials anyway), thinking that it's unique enough to make me stand out from all those sports stories and common name twins, and what do I find? Another one!

Now I know how John Smith feels. Lucky Zannah!

Tuesday, October 24, 2000 at 10:11 AM

This is the best philosophical analogy I've read since Plato's Allegory of the Cave -- which brings to mind the following:

I never know how to feel about people who insist that their religion or their god is the end-all and be-all of man's existence. On one hand I admire them for their faith and their loyalty; on the other hand I don't understand how they can close their minds to the infinite possibilities outside of what they're taught. I would elaborate, except that the question of religion always leads me down strange and winding paths of thought...

...and I'd really rather not write such things on my index page, of all things.

Wednesday, October 25, 2000 at 12:11 AM

Candy, candy, everywhere!

I have a sweet tooth that is the death of me. When I was a kid I'd sneak a teaspoon of sugar into my mouth every once in a while -- plain! Looking back on it now I think it's sick, but that was the nature of my candy cravings. That's why Halloween loves me. I live on empty calories.

My favorite candies? Anything fruit-flavored -- Jolly Ranchers, Starbursts, Red Vines, Sour Patch Kids, Gummi Bears, Sour Punch Straws, Laffy Taffy, Jelly Bellies, CremeSavers, Skittles, you name it. Chocolate? No thanks. Peanuts or Peanut Butter? Yes. Caramel? Sometimes.

I disappoint my dentist constantly.

Friday, October 27, 2000 at 5:05 PM

Where's the gallery, you ask?

I haven't set it up yet, but I do have a few set up off-site. You can view one of them here.

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